Cant start phpmyadmin using xampp localhost

Question

I have tried the solutions posted at the folloing link and it has not helped me: phpMyAdmin - can't connect - invalid setings - ever since I added a root password - locked out

The only difference is I never set a password. This happened upon initial attempt to launch phpmyadmin. Here is what my config.inc.php file looks like:

/* Authentication type */
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['auth_type'] = 'http';
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['user'] = 'root';
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['password'] = '';
/* Server parameters */
//$cfg['Servers'][$i]['host'] = 'localhost';
//$cfg['Servers'][$i]['connect_type'] = 'tcp';
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['compress'] = false;
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['AllowNoPassword'] = false;

/**
 * phpMyAdmin configuration storage settings.
 */

/* User used to manipulate with storage */
// $cfg['Servers'][$i]['controlhost'] = '';
// $cfg['Servers'][$i]['controlport'] = '';
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['controluser'] = 'pma';
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['controlpass'] = '';

/* Storage database and tables */
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['pmadb'] = 'phpmyadmin';
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['bookmarktable'] = 'pma__bookmark';
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['relation'] = 'pma__relation';
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['table_info'] = 'pma__table_info';
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['table_coords'] = 'pma__table_coords';
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['pdf_pages'] = 'pma__pdf_pages';
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['column_info'] = 'pma__column_info';
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['history'] = 'pma__history';
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['table_uiprefs'] = 'pma__table_uiprefs';
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['tracking'] = 'pma__tracking';
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['userconfig'] = 'pma__userconfig';
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['recent'] = 'pma__recent';
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['users'] = 'pma__users';
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['usergroups'] = 'pma__usergroups';
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['navigationhiding'] = 'pma__navigationhiding';
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['savedsearches'] = 'pma__savedsearches';
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['central_columns'] = 'pma__central_columns';
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['designer_coords'] = 'pma__designer_coords';
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['designer_settings'] = 'pma__designer_settings';
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['export_templates'] = 'pma__export_templates';
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['favorite'] = 'pma__favorite';
// $cfg['Servers'][$i]['favorite'] = 'pma__favorite';
// $cfg['Servers'][$i]['users'] = 'pma__users';
// $cfg['Servers'][$i]['usergroups'] = 'pma__usergroups';
// $cfg['Servers'][$i]['navigationhiding'] = 'pma__navigationhiding';
// $cfg['Servers'][$i]['savedsearches'] = 'pma__savedsearches';
// $cfg['Servers'][$i]['central_columns'] = 'pma__central_columns';
// $cfg['Servers'][$i]['designer_settings'] = 'pma__designer_settings';
// $cfg['Servers'][$i]['export_templates'] = 'pma__export_templates';
/* Contrib / Swekey authentication */
// $cfg['Servers'][$i]['auth_swekey_config'] = '/etc/swekey-pma.conf';

/**
 * End of servers configuration
 */

Finally, I have also ensured I start MySql before attampting to run phpmyadmin by running the following command:

mysql -u root -p

Please help!

Answer 1

If your root account has no password, which it does not by default then change this param from

$cfg['Servers'][$i]['AllowNoPassword'] = false;

To

$cfg['Servers'][$i]['AllowNoPassword'] = true;

This will allow accounts with no password to be used

However, if this was the base config, I would have expected XAMPP's install to have set a password on root. So you may need to read the install instructions to check for a password that they set for the root user account

Additional Suggestion

Of course this could also be that you have more than one MYSQL Server running on your system, and what you are actually doing is connect to the one that was there before, as it is probably AutoStarted and therefore grabs port 3306 before you get to start XAMPP.

Did you install another MYSQL before coming across XAMPP?

If so, look at the services snapin, and see if you have more than one MYSQL Server service in the list. I cannot remember if XAMPP gives its MYSQL a specific name other than MYSQL, I am a WAMPServer user now, its been some years since I use XAMPP.

If you remember what the root password was on that other MYSQL Server try that, to prove if this is the case.